March was a great month for US auto sales

Calculated Risk
The pace of US auto sales jumped to an annualized rate of 17.05 million units in March.

This was up from 16.16 million in February, and it was also stronger than the 16.90 million forecast by analysts.

"Inclement weather in late February probably caused many consumers to delay their new vehicle purchases until March," Nomura analysts said earlier this week. "Thus, some demand for vehicles may have shifted away from February to March."

The numbers for the from the Detroit three were mixed. GM sales unexpectedly tumbled 2.4%; analysts were looking for 0.1% increase. Ford sales fell by 3.5%, which wasn't as bad as the 4.3% drop expected. Fiat Chrysler sales increased by 1.7% in March, which was right in line with analysts' expectations.